A Marine's Cadence
by NavySailor
Summary: What happens when two agents decide it's high time someone started asking questions? INCOMPLETE SORRY. Lost inspiration.
1. Chapter 1

**V-I-T-C-O-R-Y**

Dave quietly sang to himself as he typed on his computer. He was finishing up on a case file before heading home for the night, and only two other agents remained at the office with him. J.J. was finishing off on signing her files and Luke, like Dave, still had to finish writing his report up.

 **Victory, victory, that's our battle cry**

Dave continued to sing to himself as he remembered the successful case they had had. James Winter, 33 year old male, had been kidnapping little boys who reminded him of his son. The team had brought them all home safe and unharmed and James was arrested without incident.

 **S-O-L-D-I-E-R**

Dave continued to sing a bit more enthusiastically, a smile on his face about the fact that this team, his group of soldiers, had come out of this battle unscathed for the most part. That was a rare occurrence that Rossi did not take for granted and he counted his blessings on every blue moon occasion that it happened.

 **Soldiers, soldiers, that's who we are**

Dave thought about that verse for a moment as he stopped singing. They were in a way soldiers, fighting a war on the home front against an impossible enemy. It's why he took every good case as a blessing and also why every bad case drove him to bust his ass harder. Unlike most of the team, Luke being the obvious exception, he _was_ a soldier. No he was a Marine, and that was something that would never change. It wasn't just a job, it was a life style and a personality all on it's own.

 **C-O-U-N-T-R-Y**

 **For duty, honor, country, I'd give my life**

Rossi continued singing, as this line always hit home for him and he could physically feel it in his heart every time he sang it. He would lay down his life for this country, he didn't want to die but if he needed to then he'd bear that cross with honor.

 **Six to the front and three to the rear,**

 **that's the way we do it here,**

Dave at this point was fairly sure he was mixing up the Marine and Navy version of the cadence but honestly both sides rang true so he didn't much care. And he continued to sing as he no longer typed, just focused on the words.

 **If I die on the old drop zone,**

 **box me up and ship me home,**

 **tell my mom I did my best,**

 **pin my medals upon my chest,**

Dave sang as he remembered all his friends who had died in combat in Vietnam. At 18, it wasn't just hard, it was impossible to handle but he did some how. 18, damn, what an age to go to war, fresh out of high school and no idea what life had planned for you. To be dropped in the middle of a war zone and forced to watch friends die...well it was difficult to say the least.

 **Tell my RDCs I did my best,**

 **Tell 'em I was buried in a leaning rest.**

Dave finished off knowing for sure now that he had definitely gotten the Navy and Marine versions mixed up somehow. He looked up when he realized someone had been listening to him. J.J. and Luke, both smiling, stood at the door and watched him quietly. He regarded the two agents wearily as what they had watched had been a very personal moment for the old Marine.

"You happen to know another one of those?" J.J. asked curiously as she slowly walked in and sat down in front of his desk. Luke followed J.J.'s lead a few seconds later and also took a seat.

"I know a few," David replied as he watched two people he considered to be like surrogate kids to him. For him to do this, even if it seemed like nothing, was for him to open up to them about the past a lot. There would more than likely be questions about what had happened during his 22 year military career and Rossi wasn't sure he was ready for that. He did know one thing though... If he was going to open up to anyone he was glad it was these two.


	2. Chapter 2

"Can you sing another one?" J.J. asked Dave as she watched the profiler carefully in case she was going to far. She wanted him to open up about whatever had been bothering him lately but to do that she had to put the perfect amount of pressure without scaring him off. Luke was there as he back up and she figured the fact that he was also former military might help just a little bit.

"Yea Rossi, I only know the Army ones or at least versions," Luke added in trying to encourage Dave who looked at them both with suspicion before nodding slightly.

"Alright I'll do one more but that's it," he told them as he leaned back in his chair.

 **Mama, mama can't you see?**

 **What this Corps has done for me?**

 **Put me in a barber's chair,  
Snip, snap and I had no hair,  
And if I die in a combat zone,  
Box me up and ship me home!  
Put me in a set of Dress Blues,  
Comb my hair and shine my shoes,  
Pin my medals upon my chest,  
Tell my Mama I did my best,  
Mama, Mama don't you cry,  
Marine Corps motto is "Do or Die!"  
Say, left, right, left,  
Left, right, left,  
Low, right, left,  
Lefty, right, low.**

Dave finished the cadence proudly, a slight smirk of satisfaction at the fact that he'd remembered most of it. Of course there were many other verses to this one but he felt he'd done well remembering the first one and if Luke and J.J. were anything to go by he had indeed impressed them. That being said his happiness once more dissipated after a few seconds and he thought about Vietnam once more and Desert Storm as well.

J.J. took a slight breath and decided to go with an under the radar question first so as not to spook him. Something was bothering Rossi and she was going to have to play the long game to find out what it was.

"How long were you in the Marines for?" she asked him with that _I'm not going anywhere with this_ look.

"22 years," Dave answered after a moment's hesitation. He wasn't sure where this was going but he didn't like it.

"Wow, you must have ranked up really well," Luke cut in to take the tension off of J.J. Somehow it worked and Rossi relaxed a little at Luke talking almost business about it.

"Sergeant Major, E-9," Dave confirmed a little more relaxed that this wasn't going to go super personal.

"That couldn't have been easy to get to," Luke prodded and immediately regretted doing so because Dave shut down faster than an engine out of oil.

He didn't know how to respond to that other than with a "yea, it was."

J.J. watched as he stared at his desk and wondered if she could get him to sing another cadence. They seemed to relax him a bit, plus his voice was kind of soothing.

"Can you sing another one?" J.J. asked him quietly.

"Why?"

"I don't know, it's just nice to listen to you sing something other than jazz," she said honestly.

"I think I can pull out another one," Dave told her as he relaxed once more.


	3. Chapter 3

Dave thought for a moment about which one he'd sing when it came to him. A perfect way to express what was going on without actually having to say it. It was a cadence he had heard some of the Navy Gunner's Mates, he had worked with during Nam, singing. Rossi took a moment to go over the cadence in his head before nodding to himself and singing it.

 **It's a hostile situation,**

 **It started in Iran,**

 **But then the bloody Russians,**

 **Invaded Afghanistan,**

 **Hey,**

 **Man at war,**

 **Man at war,**

 **Late at night when you're sleepin,**

 **GMs come a creepin all around,**

 **They're creepin all around,**

 **Hey,**

 **They came to find their leader,**

 **They found him in the rear,**

 **His eyes where full of wonder,**

 **His eyes were full of fear,**

 **Hey,**

 **Man at war,**

 **Man at war,**

 **Late at night when you're sleepin,**

 **GMs come a creepin all around,**

 **They're creepin all around,**

 **Hey,**

 **They came to find their wounded,**

 **They came to claim their dead,**

 **They heard the choppers comin,**

 **They're hoverin overhead,**

 **Hey,**

 **Man at war,**

 **Man at war,**

 **Late at night when you're sleepin,**

 **GMs come a creepin all around,**

 **They're creepin all around,**

 **Hey,**

 **They came to find their leader,**

 **They found him in his bed,**

 **But when they rolled him over,**

 **They found that he was dead,**

 **Hey,**

 **Man at war,**

 **Man at war,  
Late at night when you're sleepin,  
GMs come a creepin all around,  
They're creepin all around,  
Hey.**

Rossi finished singing it fairly sure that he had gotten that one right.

"Army sings one by the same name but the words are completely different," Luke said as he watched Rossi.

"Yea well that's because the Army wouldn't know a good cadence if it smacked them in the face," Rossi joked with Luke.

"hey!" Alvez shouted in fake offence "I'll have you know that the Army has bad ass cadences!"

"Boys!" J.J. broke up the argument quickly.

She looked at Rossi before decided the hell with being nice about it "Why are you so upset lately?"

The old Marine was taken aback by her directness but at the same time he saw it coming.

"Bad memories," was all he gave in way of answer.

"What memories?" J.J. pushed.

"I just said, bad ones" Rossi said getting a bit defensive.

"Dave, You need to tell us what's going on," J.J. told him straight up.

"How about I sing another cadence," Dave suggested as a weird compromise.

"Fine," she relented reluctantly. He wasn't going to get rid of her that easily.


End file.
